Eating out at the Crazy Fire Grill

Last weekend, there was a Diwali celebration in town. Ok ok, so Diwali is a month away. But this was more of a cultural event and being held in an open-air amphitheater, the organizers are trying to beat the cold weather by choosing an early autumn date. So we packed our baby paraphernalia and made our way over to where a 15,000 strong Indian community was cheering and dancing to popular Bollywood beats being performed by a local Indian band. I hear the boy band from India, A Band Of Boys, also performed later in the evening.

As the sun went down and the temperatures plumetted rapidly, we hiked the mile-long path back to the lot where we were parked. And then came the question of dinner. We had only been to one restaurant in this area after some research on allergy-friendliness. It was a vegetarian Indian restaurant, Udupi Cafe. Back when we dined there, Baby was allergic to 3 foods of animal origin that would not be considered vegetarian. And regarding his dairy allergy, the staff were happy to help us pick the non-dairy offerings from the menu. So Udupi Cafe it was going to be. But once we arrived there, we were informed that due to some kitchen problems, they only had the buffet that night, no orders from the menu. What a bummer!

These are the times when I wish I had a handheld of some kind that would let me research my allergy-friendly restaurant options and menus online, so much more efficient than driving around and trying to guess. We were close to my office and I happened to remember this Mongolian grill my office-mates had taken me to lunch at when I first joined. Back then, I was breastfeeding Baby and had to avoid eating all the foods he was allergic to (and some more, because we were not exactly sure if he was allergic to them or not) After ruling out fried chicken, Italian and burger joints, the guys came up with the Mongolian grill -- "That way she can pick whatever she wants to eat or avoid herself!" But heck, I did not know where the place was or even remember the name. It had the word "crazy" in it, I remembered, because I had noted how that was an accurate reflection of my experience eating out in those days :-) So we asked the Pizza place next to Udupi if they knew about "that Crazy Grill place".

"Oh you mean the Crazy Fire Grill?"

We were in luck! A few rapid directions, to which Beau nodded with comprehension. (Beau is my GPS, what would I do without him!) And we were driving off excitedly to our next food adventure.

Dining out with a toddler that would rather race round and round the food stations than stay put in his highchair has its own challenges. Not to mention the additional challenges if that toddler has food allegies as well. But I found enough for his stir-fry plate - some of his favorites like baby corn and pineapple, as well as snow peas, broccoli, dark meat chicken. On my request they scrubbed down a part of the grill and used separate metal rods/tongs/whatever-those-humongous-stirring-devices-are-called to cook Baby's portion and put a dollop of white rice on his plate. And I could watch it all for myself and be reassured. No repeating the same thing over and over in communicating with the chef and waitstaff, no mix-ups in carrying food from kitchen to tables - what a wonderful concept the Mongolian grill is!

Baby loves the experience of eating out. He gets the adult plates and silverware and even all the same foods as the adults. Oh he loves to be a grown-up at the table! He even enjoyed the hand-washing before and after the meal, with the foamy soap from the soap dispenser and the revolving paper towel dispenser. It was as much an adventure for him as it was for us.

The dim light at the table wasn't conducive to good photography. But the food was good, so much that Beau went back for a second stir fry of seafood. After Baby was done eating, he played around in the restaurant as well as outside it for about 20 minutes while we alternated watching him and getting our own stir-fries. No allergic reaction or discomfort, I did not forget to leave an extra tip for the chef at the grill!